Yankees Fan Rich on Whether Steinbrenner Ownership Is Setting Pinstripes’ Sights High Enough

George Steinbrenner once told Ed Bradley on 60 Minutes, "You show me a good loser and I'll show you a loser." His son runs the Yankees very differently, and Rich is not sure the difference is helping.

The Yankees have not won a championship since 2009. Mike, a Dodgers fan whose team has won the last two, was told he was not allowed to talk during this segment of The Rich Eisen Show. He talked anyway.

## Hal Is Not George

Rich acknowledged the obvious. Hal Steinbrenner shares the last name and can even sound like his dad, but "he has a totally different approach to running this team." He pays a lot of money, like his father did. What he does not do is refuse to countenance coming up short.

To be fair to Hal, Rich said George was "nuts" and "over the top," to the point that it became detrimental to the Yankees' cause. When George was suspended, the Yankees built something that took root with Bob Watson as general manager. The era of trading away future stars ended. Rich invoked the famous Seinfeld episode, with Larry David voicing George Steinbrenner explaining that his baseball people told him he had to have Ken Phelps. "Well, those Ken Phelps trades stopped," Rich said, and one of the people building alongside Watson was Brian Cashman.

Cashman just got a new contract from Hal. Aaron Boone is coming back for year 10, even after the Yankees were swept in the division series by Tampa Bay, a team Rich said sits about 23 places lower on the payroll than the third-ranked Yankees.

## "World Series or Bust"

Hal had said it was World Series or bust, so he was asked at his press conference whether he was changing that mantra.

"I have never suggested that a season like this season is a success," Hal said. "Winning 93 games is not a failure. Playing in the division series is not a failure. It became a failure because we did not do well." He added that he would not call the entire season a complete failure. In another answer, he said a championship "is always our goal, which is why we put so much effort and resources into the roster every offseason."

The crew agreed he looked agitated. Rich heard his dad's cadence, but someone in the room said he sounded more like Larry David.

## Put the Ball in Play

The diagnosis, as Rich laid it out, is simple. "Brian Cashman has got to get some people who put the ball in play. That's it. End of story."

He credited Boone for winning a ton of games despite injuries, and said the pitching was great. But the Yankees strike out too much and do not have enough "ducks in the pond for Aaron Judge and Stanton if he's healthy."

Then there is Trent Grisham. "He ain't a leadoff hitter," Rich said. The Yankees gave him a qualifying offer expecting him to chase big money in free agency. Instead, "He goes, 'Sold. I'll take it.'" Now, Rich said, they have "a $22 million player that doesn't do very much for you except hit home runs on occasion, strike out."

## Lucky Hal Is Not His Dad

"Cashman and Boone are lucky that Hal's not his dad," Rich said, "cuz they would have been gone a long ass time ago and maybe rehired before being fired again."

They are also lucky, he said, that Hal is not Terry Pegula or Steve Bisciotti, owners who appreciate the success and the playoff runs but decide it is time for a different voice and younger blood.

Watching the Rays make it with their payroll was tough, Rich said, especially when the Yankees were not even competitive in that series.

He did give Cashman credit for the young talent coming through on his watch: George Lombard Jr., Ben Rice, Spencer Jones and Cam Schlittler, whom Rich called a "godsend." But blaming the players only goes so far. "You got to also look at the guy to your left and the guy who shops for the groceries and say, 'You've been here 20 some years. Appreciate those rings.' Hold on a minute. Let me blow the dust off of that."

## A Steadier Hand, for Better and Worse

Hal was also asked about a salary cap. He said he was not discussing labor, but that he personally designed many of the proposals on the table for the players and wholeheartedly supports them. That, too, is not his dad, who Rich figured would have said, "We got more money than you. We are going to beat you that way."

There is an upside to the steadier hand. Rich remembered when George's antics drove him, as a college student, down to Tiger Stadium to beg Don Mattingly to stay, because George was telling Mattingly to get a haircut. "I mean, that's nuts. So I'm glad Hal's not doing that."

But the contrast still stings. The father told 60 Minutes that a good loser is a loser. The son is "like, I'm not calling this a failure, but I'm rehiring everybody," Rich said. "It's World Series or bust around here, but it really just depends on what your definition of the word bust is."